After its back-and-forth journey between the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands’ two legislative chambers, a bill to move the U.S. territory from total cannabis prohibition to full legalization is headed to the desk of Republican Gov. Ralph Deleon Guerrero Torres. SB 20-62 passed the CNMI House earlier this month. Today, the Senate voted without opposition to approve the bill and send it to the governor. CNMI senators say it took just 6 minutes to pass the bill. Now, Gov. Torres has four weeks to either sign the bill into law or veto it. If Torres fails to act on the legislation, it will automatically become law.

U.S. Territory Poised To Make Legal Weed History

The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands is a U.S. territory comprised of 15 islands. It resides in the Pacific ocean south of Japan, east of the Philippines, and north of Papua New Guinea. CNMI’s nearest neighbor is an island to the south, the U.S. territory of Guam. Nearly 6,000 miles of open ocean separate it from the coast of California. But that doesn’t mean residents and lawmakers haven’t been keeping a close watch on legalization efforts on the continental mainland.